told me that there have been no progress over the last couple of days, but an aide to senator harry reid told me there's still a 50/50 chance we get a mini deal that would put off the effects of the cliff at least temporarily and a 50/50 chance of that happening before january 1st. so even though there's a small number of days, sometimes the urgency of a deadline forces lawmakers to overcome differences they can't overcome otherwise. >> remind us, john, a mini deal is composed in the senate but still has to pass through house republicans and boehner or not? >> yes. and the question about the mini deal would be, what we're talking about, just to make clear for our viewers, would be a temporary extension of tax cuts for incomes under $250,000, a couple of months, for example, a temporary turn-off of the sequester, the automatic cuts equally in defense and nondefense programs that nobody wants to happen, you temporarily turn those off, you extend unemployment benefits, you do something about doctor payments under medicare. if that happens, and clears the senate, there would be a bipartisan